Unblock Outlook attachments

Ever found Outlook’s long list of blocked attachments annoying? It’s one thing to protect users from malicious code, but should someone who knows what they’re doing be subjected to the same rules?

Now, there are ways of blocking/unblocking certain file types including registry hacks, group policies, et al. By far the most elegant and easy way for end users is a nifty little utility called Attachment Open written by Ken Slovak (MVP – Outlook).

It provides a COM add-in for Outlook. When you go to Tools | Options, you see an additional tab that lets you select particular (or all, if you really need to!) Level 1 file types and add them to the list of Level 2.Level 1 file types are completely blocked by OutlookLevel2 file types are those that can be saved to the disk.

The utility is shareware. If you find it useful, you can donate 10 bucks by clicking a button – a small price to pay for those times when you really want to get to an attachment. :)

A good practice would be to move it back to Level1 (blocked) again after you’re done accessing the attachment, unless you receive those file types very frequently and from trusted sources.

If you’d rather control this yourself through registry hacks, you need to add the extensions (followed by semi-colons after each extension – remember, if it’s not formed correctly, Outlook will ignore the entire list!) to Level1Remove registry value in:HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\VERSION_NO \Outlook\Security